There used to be just two ways you could get your hands on a new car but not now.

Lease Hire and Personal Contract Hire are now methods of making an affordable monthly payment to drive away the vehicle of your choice.

Understanding how these agreements work will help you make an informed choice that will fit your circumstances. These are some examples:

All things covered
Some manufacturers will cover your day-to-day motoring costs.

Volvo has a ‘Design & Drive’ scheme which is a personal lease that allows you to fix the cost of your motoring over two or three years. Payments cover the hire of the vehicle, servicing and maintenance, roadside assistance and your road fund licence. At the end of the agreement, you simply hand the car back.

Peugeot cars are available to purchase through its ‘Just Add Fuel’ finance package. This is open for the 108, 208, 2008 SUV, 308 and 308 SW with the addition of a telematics device.

‘Just Add Fuel’ includes three years’ insurance for up to three drivers, with no curfews and three years’ warranty, servicing, car tax and roadside assistance.

Personal Contract Purchase plans
The BMW Mini Select PCP is designed for customers who like to change their vehicle regularly. There is an optional final payment at the end of the agreement; basically you defer paying a proportion of the vehicle's cost. It means that the monthly payments are lower.

This scheme is similar to the Suzuki Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) plan, where you have the option at the end of the agreement to either return the vehicle and not pay the previously agreed last repayment or pay the optional final repayment to own the vehicle.

The third option is to settle the existing agreement as part of a part-exchange for a new vehicle.

Research before you sign
There are a couple of things to bear in mind.

If the vehicle has exceeded the allowed mileage an additional charge for the extra miles will be made.

The company will expect you to keep the vehicle in good condition. Genuine wear and tear is expected, so don’t get too worried. But, bigger knocks and poor everyday care needs to be thought about.